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Reliability of 6' Toilet Augers?

11-19-2008, 01:20 AM

Compared to the concerns of the professionals that post here, my problems are of the "small potato", house hold variety, but I did not know where else to go. Anyway, with the number of kids I have and their age range, they plug the toilets a lot, so I bought a RIDGID 6' Toilet Auger. After successfully opening two or three toilets it broke at the bottom handle (at the top of the outer sleeve). A point which is subject to torsion from twisting the cable, compression from pushing down the cable, and a shearing force if ever your hands are not perfectly aligned when the extension rod is pulled out, is built of two pieces of cheap plastic and held together by four screws. I vowed not to buy such a product again, but the hardware store only stocks this model, so I bought another one, and it broke on the next use.

So I have to ask, am I really using this product so incorrectly that it breaks; or, is this product built so poorly (i.e. plastic components at critical points) that one should not be surprised it breaks?

You know the customer has been doing everything with that plunger to avoid calling you, unless there's 5 pounds of a.ss mush in the toilet and they don't want to play in the human clay.

IF that clog is beyond the toilet and in the piping system beyond the wax ring, most times the customer will blow out the wax ring getting aggressive to open the toilet.

If I plunger only, and days/weeks/months later the toilet leaks and does damage to the floor, no matter how much work the customer did to their own toilet, the last one toucheth, ownseth.

The closet auger won't damage that wax seal between toilet and closet flange unless it's a horned ring and the return distorts that horn.

A plunger is useless if the toilet is vented directly behind the wall and the clog is after the vent. This happens quite often in my state following NPC.

Both methods will work...before the vent, but I've cleared toilets at 5.5' before without pulling the toilet, which is a disgusting job if you're pulling that toilet with all that nasty stuff inside it. You can turn a simple clog into a callback scenario because at what point do you stop?

You now own the valve at the wall or floor, that supply line, tank to bowl bolts, condition of the flange, new flange bolts, fill valve that "worked fine until you touched it!" scenario. <<<< "Some" might say....well that is job security.

Fill valves don't always malfunction right at the time you disturb it. Having positive flow to an aging fill valve and then disturbing that can unrest dirt and debri in that valve. If it gets enough weeks away....it's their deal and a charge. If it happens right away, it's going to be an eat it callback to save face with the customer knowing it worked fine until you messed with it.

Tank to bowl bolt leaks can be a miserable callback as well, when the bolts have been leaking long before you messed with it, and now they decide to leak cause the old couple are frightened their linoleum is going to rot away and Chester hasn't slept since you left till it's taken care of.

Is job security to unclog the toilet or rebuild it? You can get "owned" by the next guy just hitting it with an auger and the customer will know the last guy was making a buck off the idea to do a rebuild.

Going from unclogging a toilet to doing a full rebuild increases the cost of the repair considerably.

10 out of 10 customers would rather you open that toilet with the least amount of effort and not disturbing anything else in regards to the task at hand.

I've blown out wax rings before.....my fault entirely when I see the water leaking beneath the toilet after I'm there. Crap!

I normally charge $85 to unclog a toilet, takes less than 5 minutes and I'm GONE. If they call me back stating the toilet is leaking at the base,

"Sir/Ma'am? If you plunged that toilet aggressively before I arrived, that's the reason it's leaking. I use a closet auger to prevent that from happening as NO ONE knows exactly where the clog is when it happens."

like i stated, 99% of the toilet stoppages are cleared with a proper plunger. even if the customer tried for days with their own plunger. it's having the right plunger that is the trick.

even cleared a disposal stoppage yesterday that was full of some kind of asian string beans? they plugged the diverter tee and sink was full of fibers. clamp off the air gap hose and plunge is a whole lot cleaner and faster than pulling apart a 2 part waste. second side was fine.

The problem with plunging also....is that the newer toilets don't have the smooth round bowl waterways. Toto or Kohler Cimmarron is impossible to plunge.

The times I 'did' use a plunger, the smell and the spillage, the ability to get splashed back or hit with a turd was too great. Why does this subject remind me of the smell of poop? Repressed memory I presume.

Rick you running a fever today? How many wax rings do you replace a year?

Comment

The only place I use a plunger is on a kitchen sink. They work very well on a FLAT surface. How many toilet bowls have a flat surface at the opening??? I never plunge toilets. It rarely seals right and it makes a mess with all the water (sewage) splashing around.
I never leave scratched bowls with my auger, if it is used properly the rubber guard prevents any visible scratchs.

The problem with plunging also....is that the newer toilets don't have the smooth round bowl waterways. Toto or Kohler Cimmarron is impossible to plunge.

The times I 'did' use a plunger, the smell and the spillage, the ability to get splashed back or hit with a turd was too great. Why does this subject remind me of the smell of poop? Repressed memory I presume.

Rick you running a fever today? How many wax rings do you replace a year?

the best plunger i've ever found is the one that is the size of a grapefruit/ cantaloupe. this has cleared every toilet i've used it on that was a toilet stoppage.

as far as wax rings that i've blown out in 32 years. less than a hand full. knowing where the stoppage is, is critical. typically a toilet stoppage is in the toilet. a main line stoppage can't be cleared with a plunger. although many people try knowing what is plugged up is the reason why i'm there.

how many toilet stoppages are actually beyond the toilet flange? stoppages that only affect the toilet and nothing else?

don't you think it's more likely to plug a 2.25'' opening than a 3'' or 4'' pipe? typically less than 15 seconds and the toilet is working. of course if g.i. joe, or barbi was flushed in, then i will try an auger. but still 99% of my toilet stoppages are cleared with a plunger. i leave the auger in the truck and it only comes out a couple times a year. the plunger is hanging inside my rear door of the truck.

Rare....but when I do....it's always tied to those *@)!ing horned rings.

Hell, just lie to us rick and say you use a K-60 to open them up

Plungers are so.....1980's in the plumbing world.

I don't want to take any chances of expanding the job beyond what the call was that brought me out there for.....and sometimes using a plunger angers a customer if you show them how easily it was to clear it...in that fashion.

Unfortunately in the new age of PVC, mis-cuts or undeburred edges is what causes clogs in these systems, with of course the low-flow toilets.

I've never had to pull a toilet and reset it using a closet auger, ever.

Plungering, in the beginning of my years in the biz....yes, I blew out rings not knowing the system and the clog being beyond the trapway.